Customer Reviews

Cut My Cote

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an excellent source to get the flavor of clothing construction and how it changed from earliest times to the 1600. My only regret is that it shifts rather suddenly from 1200 to 1600 with no details in between and it spends a substantial portion of the book discussing early 19th century ethnic garments.

This book offers a good basis for someone looking to do more accurate historical re-creation. It doesn't necessarily offer patterns for clothes.. but it does offer a mindset that allows you to make more authentic choices when buying or constructing garments.

More than anything else, this book led me to the conclusion that the standard T-tunic (1 cut, 2 seams) only gives a convincing outline to early medieval clothes but was only rarely used in period(1 extant garment). The book gives convincing argument to the "rectangles, squares and triangles" construction method that seems to have persisted until the early 1300's when more fitted garments came into vogue.

This is a wonderful source to support historical supposition in your documentation and although it's not the first costuming book I would buy, I would definately recommend it as a fantastic resource.

I treasure this little pamphlet on dressmaking and have used it many times to make my own clothes. Each garment description, which includes the kind of fabric used and any trim, is accompanied by a simple line drawing of the garment and a drawing of the layout of fabric showing the cut and/or fold lines. Each piece is then labeled to show where it goes in the garment. Essentially, Dorothy Burnham has taken apart these "coats" and made pattern guides, and it is quite amazing to see how each culture has adapted their cloth width to the cut and design of their clothes.

Other than the practicality of the patterns, there is an elegance about each garment. Simple, conservative of labor and cloth, and beautiful in their cuts and added trim, each coat is remarkable. By and large, the author describes clothing made from the WHOLE fabric, which in the past was done to conserve cloth as it was hand woven, a long, expensive and labor-intensive process.

If you are comfortable with making your own patterns, and if you are dealing with narrow width yardage, ex. Japanese kasuri, or expensive fabric that you just can't waste, then this guide book will help you to create some beautiful coats. There are 29 in all, from a Japanese kimono to a Macedonian long woman's shirt, from a man's English smock to a woman's chemise. The cover, a Hungarian cattleman's coat from the nineteenth century, with it's black broadcloth appliqué over white wool, is one of the most exquisite.

While this book provides an excellent general overview and evolution of worldwide coat/shirt/kimono construction, it is hardly a detailed description of any one period or nation. But that is to be expected it is only 36 pages long. One of the reviewers must be referring to a different book as this one has NO DOUBLET PATTERN at all. In general as a reference it is interesting, as an instruction manual on the order of Janet Arnold it is not even close.

Contains detailed diagrams and pictures of garments in the museum. These are mostly simple garments whose fashion is controlled more by the width of the loom than the original sewist's imagination. It's actually a historical look at the development of clothing, but all the garments shown can be recreated with todays fabrics and tools. At the least, the details should be inspirations for embellishments. Short, not too many pages, but packed with information and inspiration.

I bought this book years ago from a museum. It helped me understand the costumes and drawings in the Tilke books and freed me from total dependence on Folkwear patterns. Most of the patterns in the book are based on 3 and 4-sided figures so you can work out all the measurements from the ones included, if desired.

I do a lot of costuming. I have to look at the fabric available, consider the needs of the dancers, and make fast decisions on how to put things together. This book helped me develop the mindset necessary for that.

This is one of my favorites and much cherished. It is a replacement copy. It is a wonderfully insightful look at traditional or "ethnic" cutting techniques. There are wonderful lessons for a serious student of the apparel arts.

I've had this book since first printed -- bought it in Canada at a museum -- and it was quite the epiphany producer. Before seeing this, had never appreciated that, because cloth was so labor intensive to create, every square inch that could be used was used. That, and the width of the cloth that could be produced based on local technology, put limits on design that were ingeniously worked around. Made a "use every square inch of cloth" challenge on Project Runway a few years ago particularly enjoyable -- especially when I saw the ridiculous things contestants did to meet the requirement. (One hid the trimmings in a purse.) I am not sympathetic to complaints that this is not the easiest book for pattern cutting, or putdowns that it's a like a thesis, because it WAS written as a scholarly work...an insightful one with illustrations so unusually good that a fairly skilled seamster could translate them into actual garments. Over 35 years later, I am still consulting this extraordinary pamphlet and buying copies for other regional textile and "ethnic" clothing freaks.

This is a short book with a wide range of interests. I got it for its extent Renaissance shirts, but this details a very specific collection and not a specific interest. It's good to cite for a resource, but there's just not much to it.

This book is excellent for reproduction of medieval clothing such as the Elizabethan Doublet patterns. My only regret is that it's out of print. The pictures are very detailed and cover every step from beginning to end with wonderful explanations. The only way this book could be better is if it had color pictures instead of black and white. Although I understand why the pictures are that way (it's to keep you focused).

This book is good from a historical perspective but as I was looking for simple garment patterns most of the ones in this book are too complicated for my purpose.
I am sure it has a place but it was not what I wanted.